[reccom] Voting deadlines--a plea

[David Wheeler]

Dear fellow members,

I do not really know how to approach this subject, as I so greatly respect each and every one of you and would not wish to preach to you about things you already know.  Yet I have become concerned of late that so many of us voting members are not voting in a timely manner.  In fact, many have begun to miss their voting deadlines outright.  I do not want to launch into some rant on duty or anything like that (we are all adults) but did want to plea with you to maintain the strength and viability of our Committee by respecting the deadlines we have agreed to.  I admit part of my motivation is sheer curiosity at what you have written/will write about interesting records I have already sparred with, but a greater concern is that once we stop respecting the deadlines, it becomes easier to do so in the future, and easier with each passing deadline in turn.  And once one person does it, it becomes easier for others to neglect the rules next time because, hey, you aren't
 alone--others doing it too, you have moral cover.

I don't know, perhaps I am over-reacting in my concern.  I am the newby on the team and don't have as much institutional memory as most or all of you.  Perhaps the rest of you have been through these cycles before and know the Committee emerges through them unscathed.  But I do worry that we risk returning to the bad old days when the Committee sat on records interminably and the birding community slowly decided "we" were irrelevant and sent us fewer and fewer records.  I'd hate to see it come to that again.  People in the community have responded to the Committee's better responsiveness in recent years, and I think we all believe that to be good.

So, please, I urge you to take a moment and catch up on any records you might have time for.  Many are very brief.

I hope I am not out of line in my request.  I know we all go through periods of our lives when our spare thoughts are consumed by some issue or another.  I have no way of knowing what is diverting you in your busy lives, and I apologize if I have been presumptuous.  I simply believe in this Committee's mission, and I want it to run effectively.

Thank you, and good night.

-David Wheeler-



 
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